Energy efficiency loophole risks major cost to the energy system – Telegraph.co.uk

Britain’s landlords could cost the energy system hundreds of millions of pounds by using loopholes in the Government’s housing standards to avoid improving ­energy efficiency.

Landlords are expected to file for ­exemptions from the forthcoming efficiency guidelines to avoid shouldering the expense of upgrading the country’s most poorly insulated homes, at a major cumulative cost to energy consumers who will pay for new power ­capacity through their bills.

By upgrading 300,000 homes at the lowest end of the energy efficiency scale, tenants could save £600 off each energy bill. This is the equivalent of £180m in savings on energy bills overall, and the cost of building a new gas-fired power plant or two large offshore wind farms,